Burnard: A cavalcade of clowns

As we near the deadline for falling off the fiscal cliff, the Republicans continue their obstructionist ways and continue to think that it’s their way or the Thelma and Louise highway. They are doing everything they can to keep the Do Nothingest Congress alive, right through the end of the lame duck session.

Throughout President Barack Obama’s first term, they consistently voted against bills that they previously supported or even introduced themselves, in the attempt to keep anything from getting done that Obama or the Democrats could use to show progress.

This week, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell took this to new heights by actually filibustering his own bill. If ever we needed proof that the Republicans are more interested in playing politics than addressing the problems that face the American people, this has to be it. The hypocrisy is staggering. If I were the president, I’d let them stew in their own juices. The last election showed that the smoke and mirrors act was no longer fooling a majority of the electorate, yet they keep doubling down on their same old failed policies and talking points.

The GOP has long been entrenched in its ways, but if it continues to refuse to change with the times, it risks becoming irrelevant. Its members argue that they control the House, thus giving them some sort of mandate. I would argue that their success in House races stems more from their gerrymandering of congressional districts after the 2010 elections.

The election that brought us the tea party was more a product of who failed to vote than who did vote. The GOP numbers were relatively the same as the 2008 election, whereas the votes for Democrats and independents were decidedly fewer. Unfortunately, the so-called tea party wave gave the GOP in the state-controlled legislatures the power to draw up state and federal districts. They drew them with a vengeance.

In Ohio, one need look no further than Rep. Marcy Kaptur’s 9th District. About three miles wide and 100 miles or so long, and in places connected only by a bridge, it is the poster child for gerrymandering. This creative drawing managed to pit two longtime Democratic legislators against each other while splitting the Democratic stronghold of Toledo into two districts, represented by two different representatives.

Thanks to this feat, my representative is now Bob Latta, one of the most useless Congressmen to ever draw breath. He can be counted on to vote no on virtually everything that isn’t ordered by the GOP bosses, the interests of his constituents be damned. His opponent, Angela Zimmann, carried the Lucas County portion of the 5th District and her portion of Ottawa County, previously part of Kaptur’s district. Out of the 16 representatives in Congress from Ohio, 12 went to the GOP, even though more Democratic votes were cast for Congressional candidates than Republican votes. It hardly seems like a representative democracy.

Keep in mind that this was in spite of the voter suppression tactics that Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted pushed to the state Supreme Court, once again making Ohio electoral processes the subject of national derision.

To my mind, if you can’t win with your message, maybe you’ve got the wrong message. The election didn’t turn out as Republicans hoped. People turned out this time and stood in line for seven or more hours to cast their votes in some places. People seem to be catching on to what the stakes are when they fail to vote. The GOP may still control the House, but I have a feeling if it keeps trying to do “bidness as usual,” the 2014 midterm elections could get interesting.

Before the votes had all been counted, the pundits and journalists started handicapping the 2016 presidential election. The pundit money seems to be on Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination versus an unnamed Republican candidate. It’ll be interesting to see if they can do better than the Cavalcade of Clowns they put up the last time before settling on a candidate that even they didn’t really like. Newt Gingrich has said that the GOP doesn’t have anyone who could go head-to-head with Hillary Clinton, and truth be told, there seems to be a lot of Clinton nostalgia these days. Yep, things could be interesting for the next few years.

Pounds: Endorsements

For state representative in District 47, we endorse incumbent Barbara Sears over Jeff Bunck. Sears has been dedicated to fiscal responsibility, supports business-friendly legislation and provides information to constituents on a regular basis. Sears is a conservative, but she is moderate and she deserves another term in office. Her endorsements include the Ohio Chamber of Commerce and the Ohio National Federation of Independent Business.

For state representative in District 46, Republican Dave Kissinger’s emphasis on economic development catches our attention, but he has not made a strong enough case to unseat incumbent Matt Szollosi. Szollosi has reportedly started a quiet drive to run for mayor of Toledo in 2013, a factor voters might want to keep in mind as they choose who will serve the district.

Michael Ashford is running unopposed for state representative in District 44; more disappointingly, Teresa Fedor is running unopposed for state representative in District 45. This is one of the reasons people become apathetic about elections, when there are no opponents or opponents who stand no chance of winning. It is, however, one of the reasons why we have to vote. The respective political machines want us to stay home so that their choices face no real challenge.

Like many people, we believe the region would benefit from a representative reboot in the newly configured Congressional District 9, but the lack of fervor in Samuel Wurzelbacher’s campaign against Rep. Marcy Kaptur disappointed us and did not convince us that he will be the one to replace the long-serving Kaptur.

In District 5, we endorse incumbent Republican Bob Latta, but offer respect to the strong campaign run by Democrat Angela Zimmann.

The divisive race for U.S. Senator between Democrat Sherrod Brown and Republican Josh Mandel has not put either man in a good light. Brown is nothing resembling a centrist, and Mandel’s inaccessibility and his defense of what one of his ads describes as “normal” marriage do not speak well for him. We endorse the third choice, nonparty candidate Scott Rupert, who may not have a high profile but who offers intelligent and clear ideas. What a wonderful comment it would be for voters to eschew the nastiness of Brown and Mandel and give Rupert a chance.

We expect Lucas County Treasurer Wade Kapszukiewicz to prevail over Republican Norm Witzler, but an expectation is not an endorsement.

Another place needing change is the Lucas County Commissioners Office. While we do not see a change coming this year, it certainly does not hurt incumbents Pete Gerken (facing John Marshall) and Tina Skeldon Wozniak (facing Brent McCormack and Kevin Haddad) to have opposition and be reminded that political offices are not meant to be permanent positions.

We also remind voters that in the Lucas County Recorder race, George Sarantou is the clear choice over Phil Copeland. Sarantou has the experience, vision and understanding to continue the solid work of Jeanine Perry.

See you at the polls.

Thomas F. Pounds is president and publisher of Toledo Free Press and Toledo Free Press Star. Contact him at tpounds@toledofreepress.com.

Election 2012: Zimmann running to unseat Latta

The Rev. Angela Zimmann is challenging U.S. Rep. Bob Latta, now in his third term, for his seat in the 5th District. The district includes parts of Toledo, Bowling Green, Fremont, Perrysburg and Rossford.

Eric Eberly, who works for A.A. Green Real Estate, is running for the Libertarian party.

Zimmann said she decided to run partially because of the redistricting that resulted in U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur no longer representing her area.

“I took a look at Bob Latta, who would be my representative, and I so disagreed with his voting records and his stance on the issues that I felt compelled to run against him,” she said.

Eberly had his own reason for running — his party.

“The Libertarian Party of Wood County was formed two years ago and one of our mission statements was to facilitate candidates on the ballot. No one had stepped up to the plate, so I took the cue and decided to run,” he said.

Bob Latta

Latta, who used to practice law in Toledo, served in the Ohio House of Representatives from 2001-07, the Ohio Senate from 1997-2001 and as Wood County Commissioner from 1991-96. His father Del served in Congress for 30 years.

Latta said working on different government levels has helped him in his congressional career.

Bob Latta

“You know when you’re passing legislation how it’s going to affect someone else,” Latta said, adding that he prides himself on constituent service.

Latta, who serves on the Energy and Commerce Committee, counts revamping the drug repackaging language as one of his major accomplishments as congressman.

The new language, signed into law in July, helps cut down on drug shortages by allowing hospitals to repackage drugs into smaller doses. The previous language did not permit a hospital to repackage a drug to use in another hospital within its system.

Latta said introducing HR 270, signed into law in October 2009, was another achievement. The law allows for reserve veterans, who were in the “gray area,” to purchase TRICARE Standard Health Care. Previously, retired reservists who were younger than 60, but had served 20 years, did not qualify for TRICARE.

“I’ve worked very hard for veterans. There’s not a group of individuals we owe more to,” Latta said. “The thing we want to make sure to take care of is veterans.”

Angela Zimmann

Zimmann said that the Affordable Care Act does need to be made more accessible to small businesses, but, “I believe we should take a nuanced approach to revising it, not repealing it.”

She praised Obamacare for its provision allowing those younger than 26 to stay on their parents’ insurance. Some young people move out of the state to get health care and the provision may keep them in the area, she said.

Zimmann is the pastor of Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church in America in Riga, Mich. She is also a faculty member at Bowling Green State University, but is on leave for the campaign.

Angela Zimmann

She has a three-point plan to bring jobs to the area. “There’s no reason why Northwest Ohio shouldn’t just be the golden area of manufacturing,” she said.

One step would be improving the district’s infrastructure. An example would be resolving flood plain issues in areas like Findlay.

“Businesses don’t locate somewhere where they run the risk of being flooded out and if the flood plain issues are resolved, they’re much more likely to locate there,” Zimmann said.

The second step would be looking at tax loopholes that incentivize moving jobs overseas and the third would be preparing a workforce for available jobs.

Some jobs in trades like welding go unfilled because there aren’t people trained to do the work, she said. Zimmann said partnering with community colleges and vocational education providers is one way to solve this issue.

“Nobody’s against clear air and clean water but you have to common sense regulations that businesses can comply with,” he said, giving an example of a rule that did not allow children to work on their family’s farms.

Zimmann said, “There are good regulations and there are bad regulations. It’s a nuanced topic. And [Latta] just generally speaks about [how] regulations are bad.”

“It’s not mutually exclusive. We can grow the economy and protect the environment,” she added.

Women’s issues

Zimmann also said she disagreed with Latta’s votes on women’s issues like equal pay and anti-domestic violence legislation.

“I’m a mom. I’m a foster mom. I’m a pastor. I believe that abortion is a tragic option of last resort. It should be safe and legal. I can’t make that decision for another women …

I pray every day that abortion will end, but I know that making it illegal is not the way to end abortion; it’s making a stronger economy where women don’t have to make that choice,” Zimmann said.

“The war on women is very real. And Rep. Latta has been at the forefront of that.”

In response, Latta said in a statement, “I am pro-life and will continue to work to protect the sanctity of life.”

Eric Eberly

Eric Eberly

Eberly, who trained as a chef, grew up in Maryland before moving to Bowling Green in junior high.

He said he believes that abortion is a “personal, private matter” that should be left to the woman, her doctor, her religious views and her family.

“I support equal pay for equal work. I believe that a person’s ability to make a salary should depend on their ability to do the job,” he also said.

Eberly, who is a first-time candidate, is also a proponent of eliminating the Internal Revenue Service and establishing a consumption-based tax known as the Fair Tax.

Small business owners who he’s spoken with have been supportive of the idea, Eberly said.

The candidate also said he was for legalizing online gambling and poker and industrial hemp.

“It’s a very good crop in that it’s drought resistant,” he said, adding that hemp is grown in Canada and used to be found in Ohio.

Eberly also had his qualms about the Affordable Care Act. He advocated opening up the state’s border for health insurance to also open up the market.

“When you look at Obamacare, it’s one of those good intentions, but poorly executed,” he said. “Unfortunately, I don’t think the Affordable Care Act is the best law in that it has 20 new taxes.”

Not being able to get a constitutional amendment passed to balance the budget has been his biggest disappointment while in Congress, Latta said.

“I look back to [that] as a point when Democrats said, ‘We don’t need a constitutional amendment. We can take care of ourselves.’ How do you explain that $16 trillion debt?” Latta said.

Latta has also voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act. He called tax-reporting provision 1099 “the most onerous thing ever imposed on small business.”

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Zimmann focuses on faith in Congressional race

While the presidential candidates have been discussing values and downplaying personal religious beliefs, faith is front and center in the race for Ohio’s 5th Congressional District.

The Democratic challenger, the Rev. Angela Zimmann, is an ordained Lutheran minister and the incumbent, Republican Bob Latta, is a Catholic who attends congressional prayer meetings and promotes the core values of “faith, family and community.”

“A person without a religious faith can still be a person of integrity,” Zimmann said in a recent interview, “so I wouldn’t say that if you don’t have faith you don’t have values. But I know for myself my faith influences my values. Being from the Christian faith, our values are to care for the needy. The Bible talks about helping the elderly and the widows, and I see that as an analogy for helping anyone who doesn’t have their needs met.”

Latta said he’s “a firm believer that you’ve got to have a true faith value in everything that you do. It starts with faith in God, family and country.”

The Libertarian candidate for 5th District, Eric Eberly, is a member of St. Mark’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bowling Green.

Zimmann, 39, is the pastor of Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, a small church just over the state line in Riga, Mich.

To the best of her knowledge, she said, she is the only female pastor seeking federal office this year. (Researchers at Congressional Quarterly and the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life said they knew of no other female ministers running for Congress, but could not say definitively.)

Zimmann spoke with Bishop Donald Kreiss of southeast Michigan and Bishop Marcus Lohrmann of Northwest Ohio before announcing her candidacy.

Zimmann

“It was all conversational, not hierarchical,” she said. “Both bishops were supportive and said the church should be more involved in the public forum and listening and participating in the process.”

With her church being in Michigan and her political campaign in Ohio, Zimmann’s church and state are literally separate. But she talked with church members before running for office.

“It’s a pretty conservative little congregation,” she said, with about 100 people on the rolls and Sunday attendance averaging between 40 and 50.

“There are more registered Republicans than Democrats for sure, but they’re pretty open and affirming. We’ve had conversations with the parishioners and many of them said, ‘We’ll vote for you even though we’re Republicans because you are an independent thinker.’”

But politics is not a big topic at Trinity.

“We don’t talk about it on Sunday morning. We’re there to worship and that’s what we do,” she said.

Zimmann, who has a doctorate degree in rhetoric, gave up her job teaching writing at Bowling Green State University to run for Congress. But she has kept her part-time job at Trinity.

“I have not missed a Sunday,” she said. “And my plan, and my bishop’s plan, is that even if I’m elected I will continue as their pastor because most weekends I’m going to go to church anyway.”

She has a ready stand-in if there’s a scheduling conflict: her husband, Martin Zimmann, also an ordained ELCA minister.

If elected, she said she will be on guard to not let politics corrupt her faith.

“I’m not going to say, ‘Oh no, I’m incorruptible. I’m above that.’ I think that’s when we become most susceptible,” Zimmann said. “Absolutely I’m worried. I pray. I’ll be on guard. I’ll be asking people around me to watch, monitor, be truthful and hold me accountable.”

Latta, 56, said his father, former Republican U.S. Rep. Del Latta, is a member of the Church of Christ and his mother is a Catholic.

He serves as an usher at St. Thomas More University Parish in Bowling Green and attends congressional prayer breakfasts in Washington, D.C., on Thursdays whenever possible.

“You have got to know where your principles come from. If you don’t have principles to begin with, you can’t do this job,” said Latta, who was elected to Congress in 2007.

“You’ve got to have your foundation to do what you believe in to be a good representative.”

He said both houses of Congress have chaplains and every congressional session opens with prayer.

“That goes back to 1789, when we first had a chaplain in the House,” Latta said. “And a lot of people do not realize that we have what might be called a chapel right off the Rotunda at the Capitol Building and I know that it’s utilized.”

David Yonke is the editor and community manager of Toledo Faith & Values (ToledoFAVS.com), a website that provides in-depth, nonsectarian news coverage of religion, faith and spirituality.

Kaptur campaign: ‘Time for BOE to get its act together’

Despite a few incident reports and some voters potentially receiving the wrong ballots, the March 6 election went smoothly in Lucas County, one Board of Elections official said. But Rep. Marcy Kaptur’s campaign had harsh words for the Lucas County Board of Elections (BOE).

Voters who went to Reynolds Elementary School in Precinct 24-C before 1 p.m. may have received the ballot for District 5 instead of District 9, said Steve Fought, Kaptur’s campaign manager. The race for District 9 was the result of a much disputed redistricting that led to Kaptur facing fellow Democrat Congressman Dennis Kucinich. Democrat Angela Zimmann ran unopposed in District 5.

Deputy Director Dan DeAngelis of the BOE said the exact number of wrongly issued ballots hasn’t been determined yet, but Fought believed the number was about 70.

Reynolds Elementary was the location for Precinct 24-C, which is split between District 5 (24-C5) and District 9 (24-C9). However, there are no voters and mostly just trees in the portion that accounts for District 5, DeAngelis said.

The problem might have stemmed from poll workers switching encoders after the first one did not work properly. Instead of fixing the problem, the new encoder encoded ballots for 24-C5 instead of 24-C9.

“A voter or two brought that to [poll workers’] attention,” DeAngelis said. “They were wondering why Marcy Kaptur wasn’t on their ballot.”

The BOE sent two operatives to fix the situation and contacted the Ohio Secretary of State’s Office (SOS) to determine what the next step was.

The SOS advised that potentially affected voters return to Reynolds to recast their votes provisionally, said Matt McClellan, press secretary for the Secretary of State’s office. Only two or three voters came back as far as he knows, DeAngelis said.

DeAngelis and McClellan said their offices will continue to look into the situation. It has yet to be determined if any Republican votes were affected, DeAngelis added.

Sloppy work

On March 6, before results were in, Fought said the mistake could lead to legal action depending on the election’s results. However, with Kaptur’s large win over Kucinich, he said he doesn’t see much reason for legal action.

“It’s just sloppy work on the part of the Board of Elections. Voters in Lucas County have had enough of this; it’s time for the Board of Elections to get its act together,” he said.

“The only sure things in life are death, taxes and Lucas County having the worst election board in the State of Ohio,” Fought told WTOL-11.

Fought said the mistake may have been made because poll workers didn’t understand the new redistricting.

While that could have played a part in the confusion, the split precinct was a large factor, DeAngelis said. The BOE would like to get rid of split precincts for the November election, he added.

“That would be the main goal; beyond that maybe, better perhaps training,” he said.

Dennis Lange, a former booth official and BOE employee who recruited and trained Republican poll workers, said he was appalled at the mistakes he saw when he voted this cycle. He was fired last summer after Secretary of State Jon Husted ruled that he and another employee had “irreconcilable differences” with the two Republican board members.

Husted has chastised the BOE a number of times for being unable to make personnel and policy decisions. He appointed Meghan Gallagher as BOE director, a move approved by the BOE on March 2.

Lange said that ballot encoding was incorrect at his polling location, and that he and numerous other voters at the time were given the wrong party ballot.

“It’s a nightmare for me because the stuff that I taught them over the years, somebody just untaught,” he said.

DeAngelis declined to comment on Lange’s reaction, but said the number of incidents wasn’t particularly high and overall the election went “pretty smooth.”

Trouble at the polls

Michelle and Ronald Schnapp also had some difficulty at their polling location of Hawkins Elementary School. Ronald, retired, told two different people at the registration desk that he was voting Republican.

A third person programmed his card incorrectly, however.

One issue ballot appeared for Ronald when he started to vote, which he recorded, expecting the Republican candidates’ ballots to follow — however, nothing came up.

Since he had officially recorded his stance, Ronald was not able to recast his vote.

“It wasn’t my husband’s fault. All we kept getting was, ‘I’m sorry, but you recorded the vote,’” Michelle said.

“All they had to do was reprogram my card, [the worker] could stand there and watch me vote,” Ronald said. “I’d have signed anything to be able to vote.” Michelle also had issues with her card being continually rejected until a worker was able to reprogram it.

At press time, the Schnapps were still waiting to hear back from the BOE. DeAngelis said he was not familiar with the Schnapps’ case, but that he would look into it.

“I don’t take this lightly, but mistakes are going to happen and something like that is an isolated incident,” he said.

A sign informing him that his polling location was closed due to technical difficulties greeted engineer Brad Lowery when he went to the Heatherdowns Branch Library at 7:15 a.m. March 6.

“I thought it was odd that they had shut down first thing in the morning,” he said. “I don’t know if that’s necessarily the way it should have been done.”

Lowery was able to go back to that location and vote later that day when the issues had been resolved.

DeAngelis confirmed that there was a problem with polling machines that technicians were able to resolve. He said voters may have been able to vote on paper until the technicians arrived.

“We’ll be going through any and all incidents over the next few weeks,” he said. “You are going to have mistakes and errors and you never want to have any, but you look at the incidents and try to pinpoint it.”